So he WILL discuss his private life: PM favourite Boris says he relaxes by painting model red BUSES

So he WILL discuss his private life: PM favourite Boris says he relaxes by painting model red BUSES complete with happy passengers out of ‘old wine boxes’

He said: ‘I paint the passengers enjoying themselves on the wonderful bus’

Came as he refused to discuss row with Carrie Symonds that saw police called

He introduced controversial ‘Boris Buses’ while mayor of London

By David Wilcock, Whitehall Correspondent For Mailonline

Published: 13:58 BST, 25 June 2019 | Updated: 14:04 BST, 25 June 2019

Boris Johnson has shared an insight into his colourful private life – revealing that he relaxes by making and painting model buses out of old wine boxes.

The Tory leadership favourite made the bombshell revelation today, saying that he even added ‘passengers enjoying themselves’ as he wound down from intensive affairs of state.

It came as the wheels threatened to fall off his leadership campaign after he refused to discuss other aspects of his private life, including a row with partner Carrie Symonds at their London home on Friday night.

The former mayor of London, 54, whose term in office included the introduction of the new ‘Boris bus’ to the capital’s streets, said he liked to relax by painting passengers enjoying themselves on his model vehicles.

He told TalkRadio: ‘I like to paint or I make things.’

He added: ‘I get old wooden crates, right? And I paint them.

‘I suppose it’s a box that’s been used to contain two wine bottles.

‘It will have a dividing thing, and I turn it into a bus and I put passengers …

‘I paint the passengers enjoying themselves on the wonderful bus. Low carbon, of a kind that we brought to the streets of London that reduces CO2, reduces nitrous oxide, reducing pollution.’

Mr Johnson told TalkRadio: ‘I like to paint or I make things. I get old wooden crates, right? And I paint them’

Mr Johnson introduced the ‘Boris Bus’ to London – but the project was cancelled by his successor Sadiq Khan

Mr Johnson has a long relationship with buses.

In 2013, while mayor of London he introduced a new fleet of red double-decker Routemasters which have folding doors to allow people to get on and off easily.

He described it as a ‘stunning piece of automotive architecture’ and they were quickly dubbed the ‘Boris bus’.

They use the latest green diesel-electric hybrid technology. In test conditions they produced just half the carbon dioxide of conventional diesel buses.

But h is successor, Sadiq Khan, said in 2017 he would stall purchases of the the new fleet to save money and freeze transports fares.

Transport for London spent £350million on 1,000 of the new Routemasters at £350,000 each, while a normal hybrid was about £300,000.

And earlier this month Mr Johnson (pictured in 2016) won a High Court challenge against a court summons over claims he made during the referendum campaign that the EU receives £350million a week from the UK.

Transport for London spent £350million on 1,000 of the new Routemasters at £350,000 each, while a normal hybrid was about £300,000

And earlier this month Mr Johnson won a High Court challenge against a court summons over claims he made during the referendum campaign that the EU receives £350million a week from the UK.

The private prosecution by campaigner Marcus Ball centred on alleged offences relate to Mr Johnson’s ‘adoption and promotion of one of the central slogans’ of the Vote Leave campaign – including being written on the side of a bus.

The former Foreign Secretary’s legal team challenged the summons for him to attend Westminster Magistrates’ Court over three allegations of misconduct in a public office.

And two High Court judges took barely five minutes to quash the case.

Mr Johnson today defended not talking about some aspects of his private life as the fallout from the highly publicised row with Ms Symonds, 31, continued.

He told Talkradio: ‘Of course things may be of interest, yes of course, I readily accept that and I understand newspapers are of course going to want to print and to speculate what they choose.’

However, he would not divulge any details of last Friday’s row which led to the police being called as he said ‘the minute you say one thing’ about a loved one they would be forced into the public domain and ‘that is not fair’.